I am going to be mixing and laying about 1 ton worth of concrete tonight in our basement where I tore out 1700 pounds of concrete for the new bathroom location. That comes out to about a 2 foot wide 'J' shaped trench that is about 32 sq feet of 4 inch thick concrete. Not a huge area, but still a bit of concrete...

Anyway, I've got surrounding concrete to use as the basic forms and to screed against, but what about curing? Do I need to lay some burlap tarp over it and keep it wet for a few days? I am trying to get the walls framed up down there on Friday afternoon/Saturday morning and want to make sure that it cured ok.

The basement isn't overly damp, but obviously isn't super dry either since it is underground. Weather forecast (if it matters) is highs in the upper 60's the next 3-4 days with rain off and on. So it isn't like this is in Arizona with their dry heat.

I want to do it right, but don't want to delay things longer than needed. Outside of the walls being framed on it this weekend, it will sit for 1 week before the plumber comes back to work on the room more.

I don't want to put a curing agent on top of it as I was told that it can take forever for the curing agent to go away and it can leave a slick, waxy surface that is hard for tiles to adhere to.

So any concrete curing tips for in a basement?Any tips at all?

(I'm a concrete newbie, but tearing it out and putting the new in is saving me $900 after I factor in the cost of material and the mixer)